White & Nerdy
| "White & Nerdy" | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by "Weird Al" Yankovic | |||||||
| from the album Straight Outta Lynwood | |||||||
| B-side | "Don't Download This Song" | ||||||
| Released | September 12, 2006 | ||||||
| Format | CD, Digital download, 12" | ||||||
| Recorded | July 22, 2006 | ||||||
| Genre | Comedy hip hop, nerdcore | ||||||
| Length | 2:50 | ||||||
| Label | Volcano | ||||||
| Writer(s) | "Weird Al" Yankovic, H. Seriki, A. Henderson | ||||||
| Producer | "Weird Al" Yankovic | ||||||
| Certification | Platinum (RIAA) | ||||||
| "Weird Al" Yankovic singles chronology | |||||||
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"White & Nerdy" is the second single from "Weird Al" Yankovic's album Straight Outta Lynwood, which was released on September 26, 2006. It parodies the song "Ridin'" by Chamillionaire and Krayzie Bone. The song both laments and revels in nerdiness, as recited by the subject who cannot "roll with the gangstas" because he is "just too white and nerdy", and includes constant references to stereotypically "nerdy" things, such as collecting comic books, playing Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), and editing Wikipedia, as well as stereotypically "white" things, like watching Happy Days, playing ping pong, and "eating all my sandwiches with mayonnaise".
The song itself has won many accolades, including being Yankovic's first Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hit, peaking at #9. It was also certified platinum by the RIAA, the first Yankovic single to achieve this feat. Chamillionaire himself also stated that he enjoyed the song.
Contents |
Track listing
CD single
The following tracks are on the single:
- "White & Nerdy" – 2:50
- "Don't Download This Song" – 3:54
The promo single contains only "White & Nerdy".
Promo 12" single
The following three songs were featured as triple A-sides on a 12" promotional record:
- "White & Nerdy" – 2:50
- "Confessions Part III" – 3:52
- "Trapped in the Drive-Thru" – 10:50.
Music video
The single has an accompanying music video, which was recorded in high definition. The video, loosely parodying the video for Chamillionaire's Ridin', following the song's lyrics, shows Yankovic, dressed as a stereotypical nerd with a button-up shirt, dress slacks, and horn-rimmed glasses (see also Yuppie or Preppie), attempting to fit in with the "gangsters" but instead either scaring them away, causing them to flip him off (shown on the scene where Yankovic is riding on a Segway in the park), or to direct him away from their group and instead towards a herd of other nerds (shown when Yankovic is in a bowling alley). These scenes include shots that directly parody the "Ridin'" video, including similar outfits by both artists. Yankovic is seen at night dancing in front of a set of road flares arranged in the form of Pac-Man, similar to the shot of Chamillionaire in front of the figure of a lizard, his personal logo. Another repeated scene shows Yankovic along with Donny Osmond—the "whitest guy I could think of", according to Yankovic[1]—dancing in front of the Schrödinger equation for a hydrogen atom,[2] mimicking shots of Chamillionaire and Krayzie Bone from the "Ridin'" video. Whereas Chamillionaire's video ends with the artist throwing up a gang hand sign to the camera, "White & Nerdy" ends with Yankovic giving a mistaken version of the Vulcan salute (his thumb is against the side of his hand instead of perpendicular).
Further interspersed among these shots are additional shots of Yankovic demonstrating his "white and nerdy" life, some cases depicting more than just the statements in the lyrics. One scene shows Yankovic blanking out the Wikipedia page for Atlantic Records, replacing it with the words (in excessively large type) "YOU SUCK!", referencing his recent trouble with the company in getting permission to release "You're Pitiful", a parody of James Blunt's song "You're Beautiful"; the video is the first appearance of Wikipedia in a music video.[3] Fans of the video have replicated the action depicted in the video several times.[4] The video shows a fictional Trivial Pursuit card, with questions that include the location of "The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota", on what page Harry Potter would die in the next book, and the number of Wicket men there are on a 43-Man Squamish team.[5] Yankovic is shown making a shady deal with a thug in a back alley to acquire a bootleg VHS copy of The Star Wars Holiday Special.[6]. When Yankovic is on his Myspace page in the video, 'White and Nerdy has 27 friends' can be seen at the top of the computer screen (Bill Gates, Napoleon Dynamite, Mr. Peabody, Albert Einstein, Screech, Frodo, Pee-Wee Herman, and Tom). This is continuing his usual trend of putting the number 27 somewhere in his videos.
In addition to Osmond, there are other cameos in the video. Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key of MADtv appear in the blue 1967 Chevy Impala convertible at the beginning of the video, two "gangsters" that are scared away by Yankovic's nerdiness. The license plate on the Impala reads "OG4LIFE", a reference to Ice-T's 1991 album Original gangster. Seth Green appears in front of a wall display of action figures; Green has a huge personal collection of action figures (including Star Wars) that are stored in a large storage unit he shares with Hugh Sterbakov. [7] Judy Tenuta, a regular on The Weird Al Show and who previously appeared in "Headline News", appears as the woman who receives a surge protector as a Christmas present. Other actors were personally recruited by Yankovic through a post on his MySpace page, from which he received several interested extras that said they would appear for free. These extras include: Jon Katz, Michael Bueno, Tom Schuler, Peter Withers, John Reynolds, Jennifer More, Christina Rodriguez, Benjamin Baker, Jason Van Kemseke, George Garcia, Deborah Schuler, Cristina Malesci, Shawn Avery, Maxx Gillman, Mikel Browning, Diego Kontarousky, David Stephens, and Jack DeVries. DeVries, IGN Freelance Editor and MiraCosta College Chariot Copy Editor, is featured twice: playing Dungeons & Dragons at the beginning, and playing ten-pin bowling at the end.
The comic book store featured in the video is Golden Apple Comics, located in Los Angeles, California,[8] while the Gap store is located on Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica.
Also in the comic book store, he is wearing a yellow T-shirt that says "Carl Sagan is my homeboy," a parody of the "Jesus is my homeboy" T-shirt design.
The video was leaked onto YouTube on September 17, 2006, just one day before the video was planned to be officially released at 9 PM Pacific time at AOL.com. Due to the leak, the premiere was canceled, and AOL silently slipped the video onto their website hours before the premiere was set to take place. VH1 started airing the video in "large rotation" on September 20, 2006, and it debuted at #5 on their Top 20 countdown.[9] It is available to watch on Yankovic's MySpace page, as well as on several other video hosting sites and P2P theaters.
As of September 10, 2007 it reached the 4th position on the Viral Video Chart (for over 365 days).[10]
Other videos
Fan-made video
Yahoo! Music solicited online members to make a fans-only video for "White & Nerdy". The video was released in late 2006.[11]
Live performances
On November 2, 2006, Yankovic performed "White & Nerdy" live on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. (He rode a Segway as he came on stage.) It was his first public live performance of the song; various background vocals from the original recording are played to allow him time to breathe during the fast-paced lyrics. Since then, however, his band has provided live background vocals. On December 3, he performed the song live at the VH1 "Big In '06" Awards. Yankovic performed the song during his 2007 tour, using a Segway instead of a bike during the performance as in the video, but with different "nerdy" outfits than those used in the video.
Awards and accolades
The song became Yankovic's first career Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, a record 23 years after his first appearance on the Hot 100 chart with "Ricky" in 1983. It peaked at #9, beating his previous #12 peak for 1984's "Eat It". This was also his first Top 40 single since 1992's "Smells Like Nirvana".[12] It peaked on the Hot Digital Songs chart at #5. Both the song and the music video reached #1 at the U.S. and Australian iTunes Store, and peaked at #1 on VH1's top 20 video countdown. Both "White & Nerdy" and Straight Outta Lynwood were certified gold, and later platinum, by the RIAA.[9] This marks the first time any one of Yankovic's singles has been certified platinum.[13]
Reaction from original artist
Chamillionaire himself put "White & Nerdy" on his official MySpace page, and commented that he enjoys the parody.[14] In an interview, he also stated he was pleasantly surprised by "Weird Al"'s rapping ability, saying: "He's actually rapping pretty good on it, it's crazy ... I didn't know he could rap like that."[14]
Chart positions
| Chart (2006-07) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Swedish Singles Chart[15] | 14 |
| UK Singles Chart | 80 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 9 |
See also
- List of singles by "Weird Al" Yankovic
- List of songs by "Weird Al" Yankovic
- It's All about the Pentiums - a song with a similar topic; also by Yankovic
- Wikipedia in popular culture
References
- ^ Robert Berry, Robert (September 27, 2006). "The Weird Al Yankovic Interview". retrocrush.com.
- ^ The equation shown is in error: ħ
(reduced Planck's constant) is replaced by a 
. - ^ Adams, Cameron (October 5, 2006). "Weird Al Yankovic". http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,20523843-5006024,00.html.
- ^ Revision history of Atlantic Records - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia History of Atlantic Records showing vandalism caused by the Music Video
- ^ Goodman, Elizabeth (2006-09-28). "“Weird Al” Yankovic: Not One to Neglect the Details". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2008-04-06. http://web.archive.org/web/20080406072923/http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2006/09/28/weird-al-not-one-to-neglect-the-details/. Retrieved 2009-06-30.
- ^ Liebenson, Donald (2008-11-16). "'The Star Wars Holiday Special': May the farce be with you.". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2008/nov/16/entertainment/ca-starwars16. Retrieved 2009-06-30.
- ^ Picirilli, Mark (July 1, 2005). "Seth Green and Hugh Sterbakov sit down with Mark from YodasNews.com!". kid4life.com.
- ^ "Check it out!! Golden Apple is featured in Weird Al's "Straight Outta Lynwood" music video...". Golden Apple Comics. Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. http://web.archive.org/web/20070928083014/http://www.goldenapplecomics.com/orchard/wierdal/index.php.
- ^ a b "The Official 'Weird Al' Yankovic Web Site". weirdal.com.
- ^ "Weird Al Yankovic Music Videos on Yahoo! Music". Yahoo.com.
- ^ "Official "Weird Al" Website". Archived from the original on 2006-11-10. http://web.archive.org/web/20061110030434/http://weirdal.com/home.htm. ""White & Nerdy" erupted on the Billboard singles charts at #28 (as the "Hot Shot Debut") and then rocketed to #9 the next week, making it Al's very first Top 10 single! Thanks, everybody, for giving Al his highest-charting album and single of all time!"
- ^ "Gold & Platinum Program / Searchable Database". RIAA. http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=SEARCH_RESULTS. (search term: Nerdy)
- ^ a b Reid, Shaheem; Dukes, Rahman (September 11,2006). "Mixtape Monday". MTV.com.
- ^ "Weird Al Yankovic - White & Nerdy (Song) - Swedish (SE)". finnishcharts.com. eMedia Jungen.